Hundreds of travel documents suspected stolen from Swedish embassy

WVN – Hundreds of travel documents have disappeared without a trace from a Swedish embassy.

Two hundred visa stamps have disappeared, suspected stolen, from a Swedish embassy also probed over claims a former staff member issued visas on false grounds, public broadcaster SVT reports.

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It was discovered after an individual carrying fake travel documents including a visa stamp from a Swedish embassy was stopped in November last year at the Turkish border. The Swedish Migration Agency then found that 200 visa stamps had gone missing at the embassy in 2016.

“What’s serious is that it could be part of organized crime to use stolen visas,” the agency’s investigator, Gunnar Fröberg, told SVT, adding each one could be worth around $20,000.

The investigation has not been able to link anyone to the suspected theft.

A former staff member is currently under investigation accused of having wrongfully issued around 70 visa documents during his time at the embassy, in 2015. He denies the allegations.